Summer rain
by Empty Stairs
Summary: There's going to be a storm that night, and because of Kageyama's absent mind he forgets to turn left on the crossroad to his house, finding himself following Hinata. It's too late to turn back now and he's forced to follow the shortie home and stay over for the night. But wait, is Hinata actually afraid of thunder? Cheesy fluffy fluff, rated T to be sure.


They're walking home together, side by side, Hinata pushing his bike forward, talking loudly about this and that and Kageyama watching him closely, his dark eyes fixed on him and only him. Kageyama likes walking home with the shortie. Their homes aren't that close, which is why they have to part ways soon, way too soon. But today, somehow, Kageyama missed the crossroad where he had to turn left instead of right. He finds himself walking further and further away from home and closer to Hinata's. He doesn't think Hinata notices. Or if he does, he's good at hiding it. He's still talking about stuff and Kageyama doesn't even hear what he's saying anymore, just responding with an 'hmm' or a nod. There's an annoying tension building in his chest and he doesn't know what to do. Somewhere far buried in his mind, he knows he has to stop walking and eventually turn back to go home, because there was the mention of a storm on the news this morning and the sky is already grey. A warm, unnatural wind is blowing and Kageyama can't help but feel the foreshadowing. He has to turn back, go home, but… Damnit, why exactly isn't he?

He knows. He actually knows. He just doesn't want to admit it's that bright smile, that useless talking about nothing and just him being there beside him. Him being Hinata. Him being that irritating stupid idiot Hinata Shouyou.

Kageyama didn't notice Hinata stopped walking until his name is called out. 'Oi, Kageyama!'

Swiftly, he turns around and meets Hinata's worried gaze. His hands are clutching his bike and he tilts his head a little, Kageyama tries not to think he looks cute like that.

'Don't you need to go home?' He looks at the sky, underlining his point. 'I mean, look. It's going to storm soon.'

'Yeah, I sorta missed the crossroad,' Kageyama says, looking anywhere but at Hinata, feeling terribly ashamed. 'I'll go home now.' He starts walking again, towards him, going home but feeling slightly disappointed, knowing very well why, but never ever admitting it. It's not that he likes being with Hinata, right? It's just that he likes having company, considering the fact that he's always been a bit of a loner. Right, that's it.

But something's holding him back, quite literally. He turns and sees the smaller boy tugging at his shirt, meeting his gaze. Hinata's eyes are innocent as hell and Kageyama hates him for it. Then, he smiles his stupid bright idiot smile. 'You can come with me if you want? It'll start raining soon and it'll be dangerous outside, they said it on the news this morning, remember? My home is not that far away, but I guess yours is, right?'

Kageyama looks away, convincing himself he's not blushing at all. 'No,' he says. 'I'm going home.'

'Aaaaahw, Kageyama-kuuuuun~,' Hinata whines. 'You're no fuuun~. Come with me, we can play video games and watch movies and stuff!'

'No,' Kageyama says again. No way in fucking hell. He's not going with that shrimp. Not when…

Suddenly, as if to bully Kageyama and to prove Hinata's point, it starts raining. Also, the warm wind starts building up, pulling at his jacket. Kageyama shoots a glare at the smaller boy, but he only gets a nervous chuckle in return. 'See?' Hinata says. 'Stop struggling and come with me, Kageyama, it's just for one night!'

At the word 'night' a funny feeling settles in Kageyama's stomach and he quickly shakes his head as if to erase his mind completely from any possible strange thought that could enter at this point. No, he's not putting night and Hinata together and coming up with… things… at all. No freaking way.

But the rain is soaking them and the wind is getting stronger and to be honest, Kageyama doesn't want to walk all the way home on his own. So he sighs and starts walking again, this time in the direction of Hinata's house.

'Does this mean you're coming? Yay!' Hinata cheers.

'Don't start making things up, idiot,' Kageyama mumbles. 'I'm only coming because there's no other choice.'

But Hinata doesn't hear him and he seems even more cheerful than before, even though he's already soaked, just like Kageyama. Both of them didn't bring an umbrella, Hinata probably because he just forgot it, but Kageyama actually expected to be home before the storm, so he left it at home. He curses himself for it, now that he's actually feeling pretty cold, even though it's almost summer and the wind is still warm. Kageyama tries not to look at wet-haired Hinata and tries even harder not to fill his head with words like 'cute' and 'adorable', but it doesn't really work. He wonders what's wrong with him, when thoughts like this are popping up in his head more and more recently. He isn't actually starting to _like_ Hinata, isn't he? Sure, he doesn't mind Hinata's company like before, he'd be lying if he said he still dislikes the boy, but actually _liking _him? That can't be happening, right? _Then why exactly are you going to his house, idiot?_ A voice whispers in his head. He's never been to Hinata's before. He can't even remember the last time he actually went to a friend's home. And he's pretty sure he never slept over before. When he realizes it, he starts getting pretty nervous, but then they are in front of the shrimp's home and it's too late to go back now. So Kageyama takes a deep breath and enters Hinata's house. Hinata's mom starts fussing over them immediately, running around the house looking for towels. Kageyama can't help but smile a little at her worriedness. She's nice, he decides.

After they dried up a little, Hinata shows him the bathroom. 'You can use it first,' he says. 'You're still cold, right?' His gaze travels over his shivering body slowly and then turns back to his eyes, smiling like an idiot. Kageyama feels his cheeks heat up. 'You're an idiot,' he mumbles. 'Aren't you cold too?' _Besides, thanks to your stupidness I don't feel that cold anymore. _

'No no no!' Hinata says. 'You can go first, I dragged you here after all and it's kinda my fault you're soaked like this, so feel free to use the shower!'

Kageyama agrees with it, but can't help but feel a little awkward using someone else's shower, especially Hinata's shower. But it does help him calm down a little, the warm drizzle of the shower raining down on him. When he gets out, the cold is completely gone and he feels himself relax a little. There's nothing to worry about. He's just at a friend's house, which is completely normal. When walking to the living room, towards Hinata's loud laughter, he tries not to think about the fact that he used the word 'friend' for the bright orange-haired shortie, but fails completely. He's not used to calling people friends, doesn't remember the last time he met up with a friend. He's beginning to think he's never had a friend at all. But probably it's no big deal to Hinata, who, with his cheerful personality and loudness attracts all kinds of persons to him. There's probably no one in the first year of their school who doesn't know Hinata Shouyou.

'Oh hey, Kageyama! You're done already? Then, if you don't mind I'll go shower for a bit, I'll be back soon!' Hinata shouts and Kageyama is roughly pulled out of his circling thoughts.

'Oh yeah, sure,' he says. 'Thanks for letting me use the shower.'

Hinata just smiles at him and leaves the room, leaving Kageyama with Hinata's mother and sister, which makes him quite uncomfortable.

'Would you like a cup of hot chocolate, Kageyama-kun?' A voice suddenly asks. He meets the chocolate brown eyes of his friend's mother. She smiles at him perfectly, and Kageyama can't help but think Hinata got his stupid cute – wait no, not cute – smile from his mother.

'It's maybe a bit strange since it's summer, but I figured hot chocolate always tastes good after a cold rain,' she says cheerfully, lifting a mug and handing it to Kageyama, which means she probably expected him to say 'yes' anyway. So he takes the mug and shrugs. 'Thank you…' He hesitates a little, because he should call her 'Hinata-san' but it sounds so very, very strange in his head, since he calls Hinata by his last name, also. Isn't it strange? Shouldn't he call Hinata 'Shouyou' if he's having a sleepover at his home, hinting at the fact that they are friends? But eventually he doesn't have to call her anything, because she starts talking again before he can finish his sentence. 'Oh, no problem Kageyama-kun!' she says. 'You see, I'm glad Shouyou finally brought a friend home again. It's been a long time since he's done that. He doesn't see his friends from middle school too often and it seems that he's too shy to take a friend from high school home.' Kageyama frowns. Hinata, shy? It almost makes him laugh, but he somehow succeeds in holding it in, but only because Hinata-san's words start to sink in. Hinata actually doesn't bring friends home often? Does that mean that he, too, thinks of this as special? Nah. Kageyama quickly shoves the thought away. It's probably just because his home is far away from school and stuff. Suddenly he realizes he should say something, but he doesn't know how to respond, so some sort of weird panic starts taking a hold of him. 'Ah, eh, yeah, well,' he stutters, 'thanksforhavingme,' he quickly adds, but it's barely understandable and this stupid heat is filling him again and he's sure he turned completely red. Hinata-san just smiles. Kageyama quickly sips from his hot chocolate, but nearly chokes and starts coughing loudly. Of course, Hinata appears exactly on that moment. 'What are you doing, Kageyama?' he asks.

'I'm nearly dying, idiot!' Kageyama yells after the coughing stops, which only causes the Hinata family to break out in laughter and Kageyama just wants to disappear from the world.

After calling his parents, having dinner and playing some stupid video games, which Hinata all won, they go to sleep, also considering the fact that tomorrow was a school day like any other. The storm already turned pretty bad by that time and because of the silence accompanying them it's only easier to hear and pay attention to it and harder to sleep. The rain is pouring down on the windows with loud bangs and the thunder is also pretty bad. Kageyama is still wide awake when Hinata's alarm clock tells him it's already 2 a.m. He wonders if Hinata's already asleep, because he can't see. The boy has it's back turned to him, so the only thing he can see is the mess of orange hair. Unconsciously, Kageyama sharpens his gaze on him, as if he'd be able to look through his back or something, which is stupid, but he catches himself doing it anyway. And that's when he sees Hinata's body is actually shivering, and he frowns, it's not cold, isn't it? Before he knows it, Kageyama sits straight up and lets his hand wander to Hinata's shoulder, wanting to touch him, to know what's wrong, _something_. He wants to pull away, pretend the thought never crossed his mind, but tells himself there's no way back now. So he softly touches him, nervously, and whispers his name. 'Hinata? Are you awake?'

He doesn't respond, but Kageyama knows he heard him, because his body stiffens a bit under his touch. He quickly pulls away. 'Hinata?'

A loud sound of thunder forcing its way through the sky crashes in and Hinata throws the blankets all over his body. 'Don't look at me,' he says, but Kageyama can't recognize his voice, which cause him to think if it was really Hinata who said it.

He calls his name again, not sure what to do. _Is Hinata actually afraid of thunder?_

'I said don't look. Idiot,' Hinata mumbles. 'Just go to sleep.'

And that's the moment Kageyama is completely done with the boy's act. He shoves the blanket off him and immediately, he regrets it, because their eyes lock and Hinata is crying. _Crying. _For a few seconds, they just stare at each other, Hinata sitting straight in his bed and Kageyama half standing on the mattress Hinata's mom prepared for him, still clutching a side of the blanket. Then, a thousand things happen at once. 'SHUT UP!' Hinata shouts, tearing the blanket from Kageyama's hands and hiding himself under it again. 'Wait, I'm sorry!' Kageyama yells at the same time, letting go of the blanket and turning his back to his friend, for the millionth time that day not having a clue what on earth to do.

Silence befalls them again, until Kageyama finds the courage to speak. 'You're afraid of thunder?'

'S-shut up,' Hinata says. Thunder crashes in again and he clutches the blanket tighter, making himself smaller and smaller. 'Just go away and sleep.'

'You're the one who invited me over, idiot,' Kageyama says. 'I don't mind. I won't laugh at you.'

'Liar.'

'I'm not lying!'

'You are!' Hinata's so angry he throws the blanket around and then they're face to face again. He blushes. 'See, you're laughing. You're finding this all very funny. I forgot this. If I'd remembered, I would've never invited you.'

_CRASH! _Hinata's panicking, but his hands can't find the blanket anymore and suddenly there's Kageyama's hand and reflexively, he grabs it. Kageyama doesn't remember why he offered the boy his hand and he also doesn't want to admit he doesn't regret it at all. He just doesn't pull away and neither does Hinata.

'W-what are you doing? You're making fun of me, aren't you! I'm not a kid!' Hinata's pulling away this time…_CRASH! … _or not. He grabs Kageyama's hand tightly and flushes bright red again.

'I don't mind,' Kageyama just says. He has no idea what he's doing, doesn't even feel like he's being himself, because the truth just keeps spilling and he's afraid he'll say some things he'll regret later if this doesn't stop.

'I-idiot. If you say that I won't let go. Just… Come over here if you really intend to uh, do this.' Hinata's not looking at him, avoiding his eyes at all costs. Kageyama's not sure what the boy means, wants this stupid funny feeling in his chest to go away, wants his blushing to stop, to…

Hinata's making space in his bed, while pulling Kageyama closer because of their hands that are still tightly locked.

'What-' Kageyama starts, but he doesn't get to finish. There's a crash of thunder again and Hinata's clutching his hand and he's shivering again and there's nothing Kageyama wants more than to erase that painfully scared look on his face. So he sighs quietly and lies down next to his friend, feeling extremely self-conscious and regretting it immediately.

Hinata pulls the blanket over them and snuggles closer to him. Kageyama's sure it's impossible to blush any harder than he's doing at that right moment. The boy squeezes his hand softly and Kageyama can feels his breath tickling his neck. 'Promise you don't tell anyone,' Hinata whispers in his ear. 'Please?'

'I won't,' Kageyama says. 'Promise.'

When there's a new crash, Kageyama can feel Hinata stiffen against his back again and he decides to turn over. Tears are filling his eyes again and when Kageyama puts his hand on his head and softly ruffles through his hair, he looks at him with a puzzled face. Kageyama blushes and looks away. 'Just go to sleep. I'll stay here,' he mumbles.

They don't dare to look at each other when Hinata snuggles even closer to him and settles himself against his chest quietly whispering a 'thank you', or when Kageyama's hand starts brushing his hair again. But they stay like that for hours and when Kageyama wakes up, he finds himself holding the boy protectively and Hinata sleeping peacefully against his chest. He wishes it wasn't a Thursday and they didn't have to go to school, so he wouldn't have had to wake Hinata up, but fate decided otherwise. They never speak about it afterwards, but Kageyama can feel something has changed between the two of them. And he doesn't mind. At all.


End file.
